Process for making return-bends and related structures



e. E. RYDER. v PROCESS FOR MAKING RETURN BENDS AND RELATED STRUCTURES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 1. 1919.

1,352,535 I PatentedSept. 14, 1920.

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6/1851?! 5. RYDER. 6] WWW :5, ms @Ww a. E. RYDER. PROCESS FOR MAKINGRETURN BENDS AND RELATED STRUCTURES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I, I9I9. 1,352,535. I Patented .14,1920.

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GILBERT E. RYDER, OF LEONIA, NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS FOR MAKING RETURN-BENDS AND RELATED STRUCTURES.

, Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

Application filed May 1, 1919. Serial No. 294,100.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GILBERT E. RYDER, citizenof the United States, and resident of Leonia, in the county of Bergenand State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Processesfor Making Return- Bends and Related Structures, of which the followingis a specification.

My invention relates to return bends and similar devices and has for itspurpose the provision of novel structures of this kind and of a methodand apparatus for making them.

A discussion of my invention may best be begun by a reference to theform of return bend usuallyreferred to as a forged return bend. In thisstructure the return bend is made up of a portion of the pipesthemselves which are joined. The method of making,

such return bends and the apparatus used are sufiiciently well known atthe present time so that no detailed description thereof is re quiredherein. They are fully set forth in U. S. Patents 1,155,109 to True andMcKee;

1,169,209 to the same, and 1,255,355 to True and Brandt. The Patent1,264,455 to True discloses an extension of the idea, and will bereferred to farther on.

As will appear from the specifications in the patents mentioned and asis well known to those conversant with this art, there is a certainlimitation in the method and apparatus previously employed. Thislimitation resides in the fact thatthe distance which the pipes to bejoined can be placed apart cannot be varied beyond certain limits oneway or the other since there is a definite amount of the material of thepipes which is bent outward to form the connecting portion. If the pipesare spaced too far apart, there will not be enough of this maerial andif they are placed too close together there will be an excessive amount.By the method and apparatus disclosed in this specification, thedistance which the two pipes can be placed apart can be made anythingdesired within reason,

The invention will be readily understood from the following descriptionwhich is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings, Figure 1 represents one-half of the female dieemployed in my process; Fig. 2 shows the two pipes to be joined and aconnecting piece between them which is required in carrying out myprocess; Fig. 3 shows in a plan View one half of the female die with thethree parts of closed; F ig. 8 shows another variation'in this step;Fig. 9is an end view of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 illustrates how the structuremade by the first portion of my process is joined to a third pipeinstead of being shaped into a return bend; Fig. 11 is an end View ofFig. 10. Figs. 12 and '13 show on a reduced scale, structures made by myprocess; Fig.

14 is a view similar to F ig.'3, showing a modification whichfacilitates holding the parts to be joined; Fig. 15 is a section on line15-15 of Fig. 14, looking. in the direction indicated by the arrows;Fig. 16 is a plan View of one-half of the female die employed in avariation of my process; Fig.

17 isa sectional view of the two halves of the female die used in thismodification, in closed position; Fig. 18 is a view similar to Fig. 3illustrating this variation in my process; Fig. 19 is a view similar toFig.

4 of this variation; Figs. 20 and 21 illustrate a return bend made bythis variation; Figs. 22 and 23 illustrate an additional operation;Figs. 24 and 25 illustrate a further modification; Fig. 26 shows a dieused in a still further variation'in my method; Fig. 27 is a sectionalview of a partially completed return bend made in the die of Fig. 26;Fig. 28 shows in sectional view this return bend completed; Fig. 29shows a die used in mak ing the structure of Fig. 12.

Referring first to the form of my apparatus and. method, and theresulting structure as illustrated in Figs. 1 to 6, it will be.. seenthat the die I employ is similar to the one of the patented methodreferred to above. The-principal distinction lies in the fact that thetwo bores 1 and 2 .are placed farther apart, the wall 3 between thembeing of greater width than in the die hitherto employed. A similar andcorresponding modification is seen in the male die 4 in which theportion 5 between the two legs 6 and 7 is seen to be wider than in thepatented die. An inspection of Fig. 3 will make clear the relativeposition in which the two pipes 8, 9 and the connecting piece 10 areplaced. The ends of the pipes 8 and 9 as well as the connecting piece 10are suitably heated oefore they are placed in position and it will beunderstood that the other half of the female die, which is symmetricalwith the one shown, is placed into and then held in the proper positionafter the heated parts have been inserted. The male die which, just asin the process hitherto employed, is by suitable mechanism now caused toperform its inward stroke, splits those portions of pipes 8 and 9 whichface each other and bends them outward, upward and downward, much in thesame way as in the old process. Instead, however, of the edges of thesesplit portions coming into contact with each other, they are broughtinto forcible contact with the edges of the connecting piece 10, thiscontact being such that a good weld results. This will be readilyunderstood by those conversant with this art as hitherto practised.

After the male die has performed its inward stroke, it is, by themechanism to which it is attached, withdrawn, the female die is opened.and the incomplete return bend removed. There now remains the step ofclosing this incomplete return bend. This may manifestly be accomplishedin one of several different ways. As illustrated in Fig. 5, the closureis accomplished by inserting a cover piece 11 of suitable shape into theopening and welding it along the edge, as indicated at 12. In the formillustrated in Fig. 7, the open end of the return bend is swaged downand closed very much after the manner of Patent 1,255,355 mentionedabove. In the form illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9, the outer edge of theincomplete bend is turned inward as indicetad at 13, after which a cover14 similar to the ordinary hand hole cover is inserted and held in placeby the means shown, or any other preferred means.

In Fig. 10, there is illustrated the use of a structure made by myprocess not as a return bend but as a means for joining two pipes to athird. This third pipe 15 is belled out, as shown, so that its endregisters with the open end of the structure made in the dies abovedescribed. The two are then welded together along the line 16. Ifdesired, the open end of the incomplete structure resulting from theoperation of the dies of Figs. 1, 3 and 4, may evidently be drawn downdirectly into circular form so that the structure assumes the shape ofFig. 10; no weld, as at 16, being then required. The circular open endcanthen be connected by any desired means to a pipe,

' header orv other element; The size to which the end is drawn downdepends upon circumstances.

In Fig. 13, a series of pipes is shown whose alternate ends areconnected to each other by my process.

The structure of Fig. 12 is produced in a die involving an obviousextension of my inventive idea and illustrated in Fig. 29. Only one halfof the female die is shown, it being understood that the other half issymmetrical with that shown. Pipes 8 and 9, and the connecting piece 10are first joined in the left portion of the die, which is strictlysimilar to the die of Figs. 1, 3 and 4. The male die is exactly likethat of Fig. 4, and its legs enter the left and center bores of thefemale die. The resulting structure is then placed into the positionindicated in Fig. 29, the die being provided with the raised portion 3but having no raised wall on the side 3 Pipe 8' and connecting piece 10are placed in position, both they and the proper portion of pipe 8having, of course, been suitably heated; and

are joined bya stroke of the male die. Evidently the process can berepeated as often as desired, the finished portion of the structurebeing fed outward at 3, and new pipes and connecting pieces beingsupplied at the left end. The whole process is similar to that of thePatent 1,264,455, mentioned supra; and will beat once understood bythose versed in this art. The other ends of the pipes are thereafterjoined by a similar series of operations; the open tops of the resultingheaders closed in any preferred manner; and suitable connectionssupplied. These latter steps are not a part of my present invention, anda detailed description would be out of place.

In practice, it will not be convenient to heat the two pipes 8 and 9 andthe connecting piece 10 separately and then to insert them into the die,and Figs. 14 and 15 illustrate my preferred method and means of holdingthese three pieces in their relative position so that they may besimultaneously heated and handled. The connecting piece 10 will be seento have attached to it a projecting extension 17 A suitable bore toaccommodate this extensionil'? is made in the femaledies as is clearlyshown in Fig. 15. i The clamp 18, together with its key 19 holds to usea short third pipe as in the 1nodifica tion next to be described. Thisthird piece of pipe, which is given a reference numeral 20 (see Fig. 18)may or may not have the extension 17. In Fig. 18, it is shown as beingprovided with it and in that case it will be understood a clamp similarto the one in Fig. 14 is to be employed and later on the extension 17 isto be removed in a similar way. The form of the female and male diesemployed in this modification of my process will be apparent from Figs.16, 17 and 18. The two pipes to be joined, 8 and 9, as well as theconnecting piece 20, are shown in position in Fig. 18, only the lowerhalf'of the female die being shown in this figure. The

connecting piece 20 is in the form-of a short length of pipe or athimble closed at its inner end. The male die, as will be seen from Fig.19, has two legs corresponding to 6 and 7 in the form above described,but is supplied in addition with a short central projection or leg 21.As the male die performs its inward stroke, the neighboring walls ofpipes 8 and 9 and the connecting piece 20 are split by the legs 6, 7 and21, bent outward in. the same known way coming into contact with eachother again with just the requisite pressure to form a good weld. Theresulting structure is clearly shown at Figs. 19 and 20. The smallprojection 22 is, of course, useless and may even be objectionable insome cases. It is reduced to a minimum by making the leg 21 as short asis compatible with the proper action of the die, and letting pipe 20extend inward between the two pipes 8 and 9 no farther than absolutelynecessary. If it is desired to flatten down this projection entirelythis can evidently be done readily by hand or in a suitable set of diesso that the resulting structure becomes smooth at this point asindicated in Figs. 22 and 23. The end of this return bend can evidentlybe closed by any of the methods mentioned in connection with the firstform above or by any other preferred means.

A modification, which may prove desirable in practice, of the methodjust described is illustrated in Figs. 24 and 25. The connecting piece20 instead of being a thimble, closed at its inner end, is left in theform of an open ended pipe. The operation of joining the two pipes 8, 9and a connecting piece 20 to each other is performed in precisely thesame way as just described. After this operation, the pipe 20 is cut offclose to its base and closed as clearly shown in Fig. 25.

In the description up to this point, the connecting piece 20 or 20 isassumed to be of the same diameter as. the two pipes 8 and 9. Bymodifyingthe dies suitably, a pipe of larger diameter can evidently beemployed. This is illustrated in Figs. 26 and 27. It is believed that nodetailed description is required. If it is desired, the structureresulting may be again flattened as indicated in Fig. 28. By taking aconnecting pipe of suitable size, the distance between pipes 8 and 9 maybe increased to any desired distance within limits. I Vhat I claim is:

1. The process of making return bends and related structures whichcomprises slitting the wall of each of two pipes longitudinally from theend for a suitable distance, pressing the portions of the walls adjacentto the side and bottom of each slit out, shaping a connecting piece soits edges correspond in shape to the edges of the bent-out portions, andwelding the edges of the bent-out portions of the pipes to those of theconnecting piece.

2. The process of making return bends and related structures whichcomprises the simultaneous steps of slitting the wall of each of twopipes longitudinally from the end for a suitable distance, pressing theportions of the walls adjacent to the side and 'bottom of each slit out,and welding the edges of the bent-out portions of the pipes to those ofa suitably shaped connecting piece.

3. The process of makingreturn bends and related'structures whichcomprises slitting the wall of each of two pipes longitudinally from theend for a suitable distance, similarly slitting two opposite sides of acylindrical connecting piece, pressing outward the portions of the wallsadjacent to the sides and bottom of each slit, and welding the edges ofthe bent-'outportions of the pipes to the edges of the bent-out portionsof the connecting piece.

4. The process of making return bends and related structures whichcomprises slitting the wall of each of two pipes longitudinally from theend for a suitable dis tance,-similarly slitting two opposite sides of aclosed thimble, pressing outward the portions of the walls adjacent tothe sides 4 and bottom of each slit, and welding the edges ofthebent-out portions of the pipes to the edges of the bent-out portions ofthe thimble. v

5. The process of making return bends and related structures whichcomprises the simultaneous steps of slitting the wall of each of twopipes longitudinally from theend for a suitable distance, similarlyslitting two opposite sides of a closed thimble, pressing outward theportions of the walls adjacent to the sides and bottom of each slit, andwelding the edges of the bent-out portions of the pipes to the edges ofthe bentout portions of the thimble.

6.'The process of uniting two pipes by a return bend or relatedstructure made of portions of the pipes and a tubular connecting piece,comprlsing holding the pipes and the connecting piece in the relativeposition they are to occupy in the completed structure, simultaneouslyslitting the juxtaposed walls otthe pipes and connecting piece in theaxial plane common to the three for a suitable distance from the end andpressing the portions adjacent to the sides and the bottom of slitoutwardly and welding the edges of said portions of each pipe to thecorresponding edges of the connecting piece.

7. The process of making a unitary struc ture consisting of two pipesconnected to the two legs of a Y, comprising the steps of slitting theWall of each of two pipes longitudinally from the end for a suitabledistance, pressing the portions of the walls adjacent to the side andbottom of each slit out, shaping a connecting piece so its edgescorrespond in shape to the edges of the bent-out portions, welding theedges of the pipes to those of the connecting piece, and giving the endof the resulting structure a cylindrical shape.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,this 29th day of April, A. D. 1919.

' GILBERT 1L. RYDER.

